South South: A Neglected Zone?

I have repeatedly commented on this column of the need to compensate one of the states in the South South geopolitical zone for its courage to support and vote the candidacy of General Muhammadu Buhari in the March 28 presidential election. Against all odds, Edo State was the only one in the zone that gave Mr. President the desired winning vote in the region. In fact, aside Edo that gave him about 45 per cent in that crucial presidential polls, no state in the entire zone and the South East got up to 20 per cent. It was PDP all the way. The closest to Edo in terms of support for the APC candidates was Imo State with a paltry 18 per cent, yet , it’s an APC controlled state. Again, it’s only Edo that produced an APC senator in the entire states in the two zones of South South and South East. Edo is also the only state in the two zones that produced ranking members in the House of Representatives. In other words, Edo had rejected its son from the South South and threw its weight behind Muhammadu Buhari from far away North West! Therefore, in all fairness, Edo State deserves the best from the APC.
It’s rather unfortunate that despite all these efforts coupled with the rare political sacrifices, it seems Edo is not taken into serious consideration in the political calculations of the APC in the sharing of key elective offices. Those who call the shots in the party seem to be gloating over the APC victory as if they were the only ones that made it possible.
Shortly after the presidential polls in March, i had cautioned on this column of the need for the party leaders to be guided by the spirit of equity and justice in the sharing of positions, especially the elective ones. But it seems they are being controlled by the spirit of winner takes all which has been the bane of party politics in Nigeria. To say the least, it is the height of political injustice for a zone to be so treated by a political party. Despite the fact that the major tribes in the country have succeeded in sharing the juicy elective positions amongst themselves both at the executive and legislature, they are still plotting how to corner the crumbs that fell off their table. A whole zone is excluded from the six most powerful elective positions in the land, yet, nobody gives a hoot, they are very comfortable with the arrangements because it favours them. Sad enough, the positions of Majority Leaders in both chambers of the national assembly which are number three in hierarchy are again being considered to be given to some persons in the zones that already have key elective positions. Yet, those behind this brazen injustice are quick to shout the slogan of one Nigeria. Chia, there is God ooooooooo! The party leaders who claim that the APC constitution has no place for zoning are not sincere. They only say this when it favours them. If really there is no zoning, then all why were the party positions spread across the six geopolitical zones in the country? They should have been thrown open for everybody to contest without inhibition. The party that ruled this country for 16 unbroken years entrenched zoning of key offices into its constitution not because it is foolish. It’s simply to make sure every part of the country is treated fairly and may not necessarily be treated equally. By the especially arrangement, no part of the country felt cheated or neglected. I must say that our party, the APC is toeing a very dangerous line with its no zoning policy and the backlash effect is better imagined that described.
The president is from the North West, his voice is from the South West, the Senate President, North Central, his deputy is from South East while the House Speaker is from North East, again, his deputy is from South West(this is an aberration). Out of the six geopolitical zones that make up the entity called Nigeria, only the South South that is not represented here as analyzed above. This is a statement of fact and not politics. If we had agreed to sacrifice our son, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and his party, the PDP for CHANGE, don’t we deserve to be compensated for the display of courage and patriotism? Like I sad earlier, it’s not as if the zone lacks competent and ranking members to be considered, its just that some leaders of the party are so insensitive to the feelings of others. But do we really blame these leaders? Of course no, but blame some of our leaders in the zone. They are greedy, selfish and self centred. Their gender in politics is “me and my family only”. They only sow where they hope to reap and they are not ready to empower anybody to rise above them in party politics. They will rather shoot down or scuttle any major political slot coming to the zone. It’s that bad and sad. It’s only in the North and the South West you see political leaders with selfless tendencies who are ready to empower their followers and build core loyalists for the good of the society.
However, itís never too late. The APC can still redeem this damage as the national assembly reconvenes next week from its two weeks recess to appoint the principal officers that would form the management of the two chambers. More so, the president is yet to form its cabinet.